1. Messiah promised of old. 2. Faith of the ancient church of the Jews concerning him. 3. State of the Jews at his coming—Expectations of it exposed to the seducements of impostors. 4. Faith of their forefathers lost among them—Sadducees expected a Messiah—On what grounds— Consistency of their principles. 5. True Messiah rejected by them— General reason thereof. 6. Story of Bar-Cosba, and Rabbi Akiba—Miracles to be wrought by the Messiah. 7. State of the Jews after the days of Bar- Cosba—Faith of their forefathers utterly renounced. 8. Opinion of Hillel, denying any Messiah to come—Occasion of it—Their judgment of him. 9. The things concerning the Messiah mysterious—Seeming inconsistencies in the prophecies and descriptions of him. 10. Reconciled in the gospel— That rejected by the Jews. 11. Their imagination of two Messiahs, Messiah Ben Joseph and Messiah Ben David—Story of Messiah Ben Joseph. 12. Of Armillus. 13. Rise and occasion of the fable concerning him—Jews acquainted with the Book of Revelation. 14. Their story of the building of Rome—קלון אבא, what. 15. Death of Ben Joseph. 16, 17. The fable concerning him disproved—The same with that of the Romanists concerning Antichrist. 18. Of Messiah Ben David—The faith and expectation of the Jews concerning him. 19. The opinion of Maimonides. 20. Sum of the Judaical creed. 21. Ground and reason of their present unbelief. 22. Ignorance of their miserable condition by nature. 23. Ignorance of acceptable righteousness; 24. And of the judgment of God concerning sin; 25, 26. Also of the nature and end of the law. 27. Corrupt affections. 28. Envy against the Gentiles, because of the privileges claimed by them; 29. And their oppressions. 30. Judaical faith concerning the Messiah. 31. The folly of it. 32. Of the promises of the Old Testament. 33–35. Threefold interpretation of them. 36. Conclusion.
1. WE have proved the promise of a person to be born and anointed unto the work of relieving mankind from sin and misery, and to bring them back unto God; and what kind of person he was to be we have also showed. It remains that we consider what was the faith of the ancient church of the Jews concerning him; as also what are, and have been for many generations, the apprehensions and expectations of the same people about the same object of faith, with the occasions and reasons of their present infidelity and obstinacy.
2. For the faith of the ancient church, it hath been already sufficiently discoursed. What God revealed, that they believed. They of old saw not, indeed, clearly and fully into the sense of the promises,—as to the way and manner whereby God would work out and accomplish the mercy and grace which they lived and died in the faith and hope of; but this they knew, that God would, in his appointed time, in and by the nature of man, in one to be born of the seed of Abraham and house of David, cause atonement to be made for sin, bring in everlasting righteousness, and work out the salvation of his elect. This was abundantly revealed, this they steadfastly believed, and in the faith hereof "obtained a good report," or testimony from God himself that they "pleased him," inherited the promises, and were made partakers of life eternal; and further at present we need not inquire into their light and apprehensions, seeing they must be considered in our Exposition of the Epistle itself, which now way is making unto.
3. For the Jews, as divested of the privileges of their forefathers, we may consider them with reference unto two principal seasons;—first, From the time of the actual exhibition of the promised Seed, or the coming of the Messiah, to the time of the composition of their Mishnah and Talmuds that ensued thereon; secondly, From thence unto this present day; and in both these seasons we may consider the prevailing opinions amongst them concerning the promised Messiah, his coming, and the work that he hath to do. That, towards the close of prophecy in the church of old, the hearts and spirits of men were intently fixed on a desire and expectation of the coming of the Messiah, the last of the prophets clearly testifies: Mal. 3:1, "The Lord, whom ye are seeking, the Angel of the covenant, whom ye are desiring, shall come suddenly." As the time of his coming drew nigh, this expectation was increased and heightened; so that they continually looked out after him, as if he were to enter amongst them every moment. No sooner did any one make an appearance of something extraordinary, but instantly they were ready to say, "Is not this the Messiah?" This gave advantage unto sundry seditious impostors, as Theudas and Judas of Galilee, to deceive many of them unto their ruin. John the Baptist also they inquired about, John 1:19, 20; yea, and they had divulged such a report of their expectations, with the predictions and prophecies that they were built upon, that the whole world took notice of it, as hath been elsewhere manifested out of the best Roman historians. This was the state of the Judaical church not long before the destruction of the second temple. And so fixed were they in their resolutions that he was to come about that season, that during the last desolating siege of the city, they looked every day when he would come and save them.
4. But notwithstanding this earnest desire and expectation, they had utterly lost the light and faith of their forefathers about the nature, work, and office, of the promised Messiah; for, being grown carnal, and minding only things earthly and present, they utterly overlooked the spiritual genealogy of the Seed of the woman from the first promise, and, wresting all prophecies and predictions to their ambitious, covetous, corrupt inclinations and interests, they fancied him unto themselves as one that was to deliver them from all outward trouble, and to satisfy them with the glory and desirable things of this world, without respect to sin and the curse, or deliverance from them; and hence the Sadducees, who denied the immortality of the soul, and consequently all rewards and punishments in another world, yet no less desired and expected the coming of the Messiah than the Pharisees and their disciples. And the truth is, they had brought their principles unto a better consistency than the others had done; for if the promised Messiah was only to procure them the "good things" of this world, and that whilst they lived in it, it was in vain to look for another world to come, and the blessings thereof. To look for eternal life, and yet to confine the promise of the Seed to the things of this life only, there was neither ground nor reason; so that the Pharisees laid down the principle which the Sadducees naturally drew their conclusion from. Some, in the meantime, among them, God's secret ones, as Simeon, Anna, Joseph, Zacharias, and Elisabeth, but especially the blessed Virgin, with many more, retained no doubt the ancient faith of their forefathers. But the body of the people, with their leaders, being either flagitiously wicked or superstitiously proud, fancied a Messiah suited unto their own lusts and desires,—such a one as we shall afterwards describe. And this prejudicate opinion of a terrene, outward, glorious kingdom, in and of this world, was that which, working in them a neglect of those spiritual and eternal purposes for which he was promised, hardened them to an utter rejection of the true Messiah when he came unto them.
5. That this was the ground on which they rejected the promised Messiah is evident from the story of the Gospel, and we shall further prove it upon them in our ensuing discourses. How they did that, and what was the end thereof, are well known. But after they had done this, and murdered the Prince of life, to justify themselves in their wickedness and unbelief, they still with all earnestness looked after such a Messiah as they had framed in their own imagination. And herein they grew more earnest and furious than ever: for they had not only their own false, preconceived opinion, strengthened by their carnal interests and desires of earthly things, to act and provoke them, but also their reputation of and pretence unto the love and favour of God to heighten them in their presumptions; because they could not retain the least sense of them, if it might be supposed that they had rejected the true Messiah, because in his way and work he answered not their expectation. For this is the course of pride and carnal wisdom, to pursue those miscarriages with violence wherein they have been wickedly engaged, and to lay hold on any pretence that may seem to justify them in what they have done. And on this account they exposed themselves as a prey unto every seducer who made the least appearance of being such a Messiah as they thought meet for them to receive. This at last cast them on a second shipwreck in the business of Bar-Cosba, who, pretending himself to be their Messiah, sent to deliver them from the Roman yoke, and to set up a kingdom amongst them, drew them all the world over into that sedition, outrage, and war, which ended in an almost universal extirpation of the whole nation from the face of the earth.
6. Now, because in the business of this Bar-Cosba they met with a sore disappointment, that turned the stream of their imaginations and expectations for a long season, it may not be amiss to give in our passage a brief account concerning him and the things which befell them in those days. Some of the Jews affirm that there were two of that name, both heads of sedition amongst them. One of these they place under Domitian; and the other, who was his grandchild, under the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. So do the authors of Shalscheleth Hakkabala and of Tzemach David. But the stories of those times, with the condition of the Jews under Domitian, will allow no other place unto the former but in their own imaginations. The latter was well known in the world, and hath left himself a name, such as it is, in the writings of Christians and the histories of the Romans; for Hadrian the emperor, provoked by a seditious tumult and rebellion of the Jews in the second year of his reign, —which he suppressed by Martius Turbo, as Dio, Eusebius, and Orosius declare,—drove them from Jerusalem, and built a temple to Jupiter in the place where the old temple stood. This proved a great provocation to the Jews all the world over, yea, turned them into rage and madness; and they were in those days exceedingly prone unto tumults and uproars, as being poor and needy, not having as yet given themselves to scrape wealth together, the love whereof hath been the great means of keeping them in quietness in succeeding ages.
In this condition Bar-Cosba shows himself amongst them, pretending that he was their Messiah, as they confess in the Talmud. Tract. Sanhed. Dist. Chelek. He reigned, they say, three years and a half,—a fatal period of time; and משיח אנא לרבנן אמר,—"he said to the rabbins, 'I am the Messiah.' " Immediately, one of their famous masters, whose memory they yet much reverence, Rabbi Akiba, became his armour-bearer, and so far his trumpeter also as to proclaim him to be their King Messiah; for this is their way, when they get a false Messiah, they have also a false prophet to usher him in, or to set him off unto the people. And this Akiba, as Maimonides informs us, המשנה ומחכמי חיה גדול חכם, "was a great, wise man, and one of the wise men of the Mishnah," as his sayings in it manifest; so that all the wise men of that generation followed him, and took this Bar-Cosba for their King and Messiah. And he first applied unto him the prophecy of Balaam, Num. 24:17, concerning the Star that should come out of Jacob; whereon they changed his name, and called him Bar- Cochba, or "The son of the Star;" or, as some say, that was his name at first, whence the blind rabbin took occasion to apply that prediction unto him. Concerning him, also, they interpreted the prophecy of the Shiloh, and that also in Haggai about the shaking of the heavens and the earth, as they acknowledge in the Talmud, in the place fore-cited. This man, therefore, a magician and a bloody murderer, by the common advice and counsel of their doctors and wise men, they gathered unto in multitudes, and embraced as their Deliverer. So soon as he had got strength and power, he set himself to the work which they expected from their Messiah, namely, to conquer the Romans, and to extirpate the Christians; which last, as Justin Martyr, who lived near those days, informs us, he endeavoured with all cruelty. In the pursuit of this design he continued for three years and a half, obstinately managing a bloody war against the Romans, until the impostor himself was slain, their great rabbi taken and tortured to death with iron cards, and such a devastation made of the whole nation as that to this day they could never gather together in great numbers in any place of the world.
Maimonides tells us of this Bar-Cosba, whom they all received for their Messiah, מופת ולא אות לא חכמים ממנו שאלו לא,—"that the wise men required of him neither sign nor wonder;" that is, no miracle: but others of them report that "he caused fire to come out of his mouth," with other diabolical delusions, fit to deceive a poor, blinded, credulous multitude. And the opinion of Maimonides, that they look for no miracles from the Messiah, seems to be vented on purpose to obviate the plea of the Christians from the miracles wrought by the Lord Jesus, and is contrary unto the constant persuasion of most of their masters, and his own judgment declared in other places. And the Targum itself on Hab. 3:18 hath these words, למשיחך דחעבד ופורקנא נסיא על בכן;—"Because of the miraculous signs and redemption that thou shalt work for" (or "by") "thy Messiah." So they call the miracles wrought at their coming out of Egypt, נסים or נסיא. See Hos. 2:15, Targum. And on this ground do they studiously and wickedly endeavour to stain, by any means, the glory of the miracles of the Lord Jesus. But the end of this impostor,—who probably was intended in these words of our Saviour, John 5:43, "If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive,"—hath proved the shame and reproach of their hopes and expectations unto all generations.
7. From this time forward, the remaining Jews, with their posterity, utterly rejected the faith of their father Abraham, and of the rest of their progenitors, who thereby "obtained a good report" and "this testimony, that they pleased God." A Messiah that had been promised unto Adam, the common father of us all; one that should be a spiritual Redeemer from sin and misery; a Goël or Redeemer from death and wrath; a Peacemaker between God and man; one that should work out everlasting salvation, the great blessing wherein all the nations of the earth were to have an interest; a spiritual and eternal Prophet, Priest, and King, God and man in one person,—they neither looked for any more, nor desired. A temporal king and deliverer, promised unto themselves alone, to give them ease, dominion, wealth, and power, they would now have, or none at all. They would not think it thankworthy towards God himself, to send them a Messiah to deliver them from sin. And in their expectations of such a one, after they had been well wearied with many frustrations, they were, as was said, in their adherence unto Bar-Cosba almost extirpated from the face of the earth; only God in his providence, who hath yet another work to accomplish towards them, hath preserved them a remnant unto his glory.
8. In this condition, some of them began to deny that there was any Messiah to be expected or looked for. This opinion is ascribed in the Talmud unto Rabbi Hillel, lib. Sanhed. cap. Chelek. This was not that Hillel whom they call הזקן, "The elder," the famous master of traditions, who with Shammai lived under the second temple, but another, of whom some say that he was the son of Gamaliel, others, more probably, that he lived a long time after those days. But whenever he lived, they say of him, הזקיהו בימי אכלוהו שכבד לישראל משיח להם אין אומר רהלל;—"Rabbi Hillel said, 'A Messiah shall not be given unto Israel; for they enjoyed him in the days of Hezekiah.' " This was a fruit of their applying that prophecy of Isaiah, chap. 9:6, 7, unto Hezekiah; for if he was intended therein, he was unquestionably the only Messiah. But it doth not appear that this opinion was much followed; for a great dispute arose amongst them whether Hillel were not to be esteemed an apostate, and to have lost his interest in the world to come by this opinion. Those who, following Maimonides, make the article of the coming of the Messiah one of the fundamentals of the law, are greatly offended at him; but he is more gently treated by Joseph Albo, Sepher Ikharim, Orat. i., on the account that this article is not fundamental, but only one branch of the great root of rewards and punishments. Abarbanel goes another way to excuse him; but generally they all condemn his opinion. In this persuasion, then, that a Messiah is promised, and shall come, they all continue; but whereas, as was before observed, they have utterly rejected the faith and light of the church of old, they have in their Talmuds, and for ages ensuing their composition, coined so many foolish imaginations concerning him, his person, work, office, kingdom, life, continuance, and succession, as are endless to recount. But yet, that the reader may in them consider the woful condition of men rejected of God, cast out of his covenant, and bereaved of his Spirit, and withal of how little use the letter of the Old Testament is unto the vain minds of men wholly destitute of divine illumination and grace; and also learn what is that present persuasion of the Jews which they prefer before the faith of their forefathers, and what they conceive of that Messiah for whose sake they reject Him in whom alone there is salvation; I shall give an account of the most important heads of their opinions and conjectures about him, as also of the principal occasions of their being hardened in their impenitency and unbelief.
9. Our apostle tells us, 1 Tim. 3:16, that "without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." All things which concern the Messiah, his person, office, and work, are exceedingly mysterious, as containing the principal effect of the eternal wisdom and goodness of God, and the sacred depths of the counsel of his will. Hence the things spoken of him in the Old Testament are, unto carnal reason, full of seeming inconsistencies. As, for instance, it is promised of him that he should be the seed of the woman, Gen. 3:15; of the seed of Abraham, chap. 22:18; and of the posterity of David: and yet that his name should be, "The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace," Isa. 9:6; and of him it is said, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever," Ps. 45:6; and we are told that he is "The LORD our righteousness," Jer. 23:6; that he is "The LORD of hosts," Zech. 2:8. Moreover, it is declared that he shall sit upon his throne for ever, and reign, whilst his enemies are made his footstool, Isa. 9:7, Ps. 2:6–8, 45:6, 7, 110:1: and yet that he shall be cut off, Dan. 9:26; that he shall be pierced in his hands and feet, Ps. 22:16; slain by the sword of God, Zech. 13:7; and that in his death he shall have his grave made among the wicked and with the rich, Isa. 53:9. Also, that he shall come with great glory, and with the clouds of heaven, Dan. 7:13, 14; and that he shall come lowly, riding on an ass, and on a colt the foal of an ass, Zech. 9:9: that the soul of the Lord was well pleased with him, and always delighted in him, Isa. 42:1; and yet that it pleased him to bruise him and put him to grief, chap. 53:10; to forsake him, Ps. 22:1: that he was to be a king and a priest upon his throne, Zech. 6:13; and yet these things were inconsistent, the kingdom being annexed unto the family of David, and the priesthood to the posterity of Aaron, by divine constitution: that he should be honoured and worshipped of all nations, Ps. 45:12, 72:10, 11, 15; and yet that he should be rejected and despised, as one altogether undesirable, Isa. 53:3: that he should stand and feed (or rule) in the name and majesty of God, Micah 5:4; and yet complain, "I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people," Ps. 22:6. All which, with sundry others of the like nature concerning his office and work, are clearly reconciled in the New Testament, and their concurrence in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ openly and fully declared.
10. At the time of his coming, the Jews were generally as ignorant of these things as Nicodemus was of regeneration,—they knew not how they might be; and therefore, whenever our Saviour intimated unto them his divine nature, they were filled with rage and madness, John 8:58, 59. They would stone him, because, being a man, he declared himself to be God, chap. 10:30–33; and yet, when he proved it to them that the Messiah was to be so, inasmuch as that being David's son, yet "David in Spirit called him Lord," they were confounded, not being "able to answer him a word," Matt. 22:41–46. When he told them that "the Son of man," the Messiah, must be "lifted up," that is, in his death on the cross, they objected unto him out of the law that "Christ abideth for ever," John 12:34; and they knew not how to reconcile these things. Hence some of his own disciples thought he could not be the Messiah when they saw that he died, Luke 24:20, 21; and the best of them seemed to have expected an outward, temporal kingdom. But of all these difficulties, as was said, and seeming inconsistencies, there is a blessed reconciliation revealed in the gospel, and an application made of them to the person of the Lord Jesus, the office he bare, and the work that he accomplished. This the Jews refusing by unbelief, they have invented many fond and lewd imaginations to free themselves from these difficulties and entanglements. Some things they deny to be spoken concerning the Messiah, some things they wrest and pervert to their own apprehensions, and somewhat they allow and look for that is truly promised.
11. First, For his person and the things spoken concerning it, they apply thereunto the principal engine which they have invented for their relief; for whereas the Scripture hath declared unto us such a Messiah as should have the natures of God and man in one person, which person should in the nature of man suffer, and die, and rise, for spiritual ends and purposes, they have rejected the divine nature of this person, and split that which remaineth into two persons; to the one whereof they assign one part of his work, as to sorrow, suffer, and die; to the other another part, namely, to conquer, rule, and reign, according unto their carnal apprehensions of these things. They have, I say, feigned two Messiahs, between whom they have distributed the whole work of him that is promised, according unto their understanding of it; and one of these is to come, as they say, before the other, to prepare his way for him.
The first they call Messiah Ben Joseph, because he is to be of the tribe of Ephraim; the other, Messiah Ben David, of whom afterwards. Both of them are mentioned together in the Targum on Cant. 4:5, פקיריך תרין אפרים בן ומשיח דוד בן משיח למפרקיך דעתידין;—"Thy two deliverers which shall deliver thee, Messiah the son of David, and Messiah the son of Ephraim, are like to Moses and Aaron." The same words are repeated again, chap. 7:3. And in those places alone, in the whole series of Targums, is there any mention of this fictitious Messiah; the author of that paraphrase on the Canticles being Josephus Caecus, who lived after the finishing of the Talmuds, whereof he maketh mention. In other parts of the Targum he appeareth not; but in the Talmud he is frequently brought on the stage. So Tractat. De Festo Tabernacul. Distinct. Hachalil Chamesha: "It is a tradition of our masters, that the holy, blessed God shall say unto Messiah the son of David, who shall redeem us, (let him do it suddenly, in our days!) 'Ask somewhat of me, and I will give it thee,' as Ps. 2; and when he shall hear that Messiah the son of Joseph is slain, he shall say before the Lord, 'Lord of the world, I only ask life of thee:" for it seems that he shall be much terrified with the death of Ben Joseph. Unto this [latter] Messiah they assign all things that are dolorous (and include suffering in them which they call משיח הבלי), that are in the Scripture assigned to the Messiah, especially that prophecy, Zech. 12:10, "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced." And hereby they sufficiently discover the occasion of the whole figment to have been that before intimated, namely, a necessity of an evasion from those testimonies of Scripture and ancient traditions which assign sorrows and sufferings unto the Messiah, which they will not allow to belong unto the son of David.
12. A brief account may be given of what it is that they now ascribe unto this Messiah, and what it is that they expect from him. The whole of his story depends on that of one Armillus, against whom he shall fall in battle, whose legend we must therefore also touch upon; and this is given us at large in רוכל אבקת ספר, in the "Seventh Sign of the Coming of the Messiah," and with some variation in זרבבל ספר, or "The Colloquy between Zerubbabel and Michael the archangel." A fable it is of no small antiquity; for we have mention of him not only in the later Targums on the Hagiographa, but in that of Jonathan also on the prophet Isaiah, chap. 11:4: רשיעא ארמילום מתיא יהי ספותיה ובממלל;—"And by the sword of his mouth he shall slay the wicked Armillus." And yet this invention is not older than the Talmud, however it came into that Targum, which, for the main of it, was certainly written long before. The mother of this Armillus is, they say, to be a "statue of stone at Rome," wrought into the similitude of a beautiful woman. This, saith the Dialogue of Zerubbabel, is the wife of Belial; and Armillus, that shall be born of her, is to be the head of all idolatry: לצים של חתורף שבבית שיש אבן בן ארמילום;—"Armillus, the son of the stone, which is in the house of filth of the scorners" (that is, the churches of the Christians), "shall be the tenth king that shall afflict Israel."
The author of Abkath Rochel gives us somewhat another account of his nativity: "The people of all nations," saith he, "allured with the beauty of the image, shall come to Rome, and commit fornication with it, from whose uncleanness at length Armillus shall be born." The same author, after a description of his stature and bigness, (for he shall be twelve cubits high, and as broad as he is long!) with his hair, eyes, and whole complexion, gives us also an account of his actions and proceedings. First, therefore, he shall give himself out to the מנין, "heretics" (that is, Christians) to be their Messiah, who gave them their law, saying unto them, אלהיכם אני משיח אני,—"I am Messiah, I am your God;" and they shall presently embrace him, and give him their תפלות, or "prayer-books," acknowledging him to be the author of them. After this, by the help of the Edomites (Romans), he shall conquer many nations, until, coming unto the Jews, he shall require of them to receive him as their Messiah and the author of their law. But these good Jews shall with one consent oppose him, under the conduct of Messiah Ben Joseph, and of Nehemiah the son of Husiel, says one; of Menachem the son of Ammiel, says another. And in this war shall Messiah Ben Joseph be slain, as it is written, Zech. 12:10.
13. I shall stay a little by the way, to unriddle this enigmatical fable, it having not been by any attempted. The name Armillus some suppose to be formed of ἐρημόλαος, "a waster of the people;" for such they intend he shall be. But the truth is, as Broughton first observed, and sundry others have assented unto him, it is no other than Romulus, with the usual Chaldee formation by Aleph. For whereas he contends that it should be read Romulus, and not Armillus or Armilus, there is no necessity for it; for the coiners of the fable might either ignorantly mistake the name, as is usual with these masters, or on purpose obscure it, that it might not at first view be known by the Christians, of whom they were afraid. And by Romulus, who was the first founder of the city and empire, they intend a prince of Rome, and such they declare their Armillus to be. And the whole story of him is compounded out of some prophetical passages and expressions in the Revelation of St John, or is feigned by themselves from the event of things, mixing their own conceits with the opinions of some Christians concerning Antichrist; for they plainly say that this Armillus is called by the Christians, אנטיכרישטום, "Antichristus." Image-worship in the Revelation, as in the Old Testament, is expressed by the name of "fornication;" and Rome, because of her abounding therein, is called "The mother of harlots." Hence the image at Rome in the church is become the mother of Armillus, and that by the people of all nations committing fornication with it; which is the rise assigned unto antichristian power in the Revelation. This, then, is that which, in their way, they aim at,—the worship of images in churches, begun and promoted at Rome, furthered by the consent of the nations, shall bring forth that Roman power which shall seek to destroy the Israel of God.
And I am the rather inclined unto this conjecture, because I find that they are some of them not utter strangers unto the book of the Revelation, as those of them who are cabbalistical have a great desire to be inquiring into things mystical, which they understand not, which they wrest and corrupt unto their own imaginations. Besides, it may be they are pleased with that description that is in it of the New Jerusalem; which some Judaizing Christians of old wrested unto a restoration of the earthly city of Jerusalem, and the renewed observation of the law of Moses. Thus the author of the Questions and Answers published by Brenius, quest. 26, inquires how Christians interpret these words of the Revelation, chap. 13:18, "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six:" to which he adds, "I have heard of none who hath clearly interpreted this place; but I can give a good interpretation of it." It is very likely he had considered it; though possibly his interpretation, which he was not pleased to declare, was little worth. And the visions of Rabbi Joshua about the heavenly paradise, with the gates of it made of precious stones, wherein are mixed many fables, not unlike those about Mohammed's entrance into heaven, in the Koran, were originally taken from the allegorical description given us of the New Jerusalem in that book, and abused to their superstitions. And from the same fountain it is that they have got a great tradition among them that they shall not be delivered until Rome be destroyed; for understanding Rome by Babylon in that prophecy, they apply that unto themselves which is foretold upon its destruction concerning the church of Christ. So Rabbi in המור צרור, or "Bundle of Myrrh," a commentary on the law, says more than once, גאולתנו תהוה מיד רומא בחרבן;—"Upon the destruction of Rome, our redemption shall ensue out of hand." And it is by many observed that an alteration is made in the later editions of the commentary of David Kimchi on Obad. i., in these words, שאמרו ומה גוים קרבו בפרשת בישעיה שפי׳ כמו אמרו רומי על הימים באחרית אדום בחרבן נביאים ישראל גאולת תהיה רומי כשתחרב כי לשמוע;—"That which the prophets spake concerning the destruction of Edom in the latter days, they spake it of Rome, as I have expounded it on that of Isaiah, 'Draw nigh, ye nations, to hear' (chap. 34:1); for when Rome shall be destroyed, then shall be the redemption of Israel;" but the name of Rome is left out in the later editions, though it abide in that of Robert Stephens, which he published on the minor Prophets. Sayings also unto the same purpose are cited out of Rabbi Bechai in Cad Hakkemach, Rabbi Solomon on Lev. 6, and sundry others.
14. And this will yet further appear, if we consider the account they give concerning the original and first building of Rome itself. Mention is made of it in the Talmud. Tract. Sanhed., and more largely declared in Midrash Rabba Cantic. Canticor., cap. i. 6, as it is from thence reported by Buxtorf in his Lexicon Talmud. Rad. רום. And their words are to this purpose: "Rabbi Levi said, that on the day that Solomon was married unto the daughter of Pharaoh, Michael the great prince descended from heaven, and fixed a reed in the sea, so as that mud and dirt might on all sides be gathered unto it; and this place afterwards becoming a wood, was that place where Rome was afterwards built. For at the time that Jeroboam the son of Nebat made the two golden calves, there were two small houses built at Rome, which presently fell down; and being again set up, immediately they fell down again. But there was then present an old man, whose name was קלון אבא, Abba Kolon, who said unto them, 'Unless you bring water hither out of the river of Euphrates, and mix it with this clay, and build the houses therewith, they will never stand.' They said therefore unto him, 'And who shall bring it unto us?' He answered that he would. He went, therefore, and took on him the habit of one that carries wine to sell, and so went from one city unto another, from one country unto another, until he came at length unto Euphrates. When he came thither, he took water out of the river; which when he had brought unto them, they mixed it with their clay, and therewith built up the houses, which stood firm and stable. From that time it was a proverb amongst men, 'Every city or province where there is not Abba Kolon deserves not the name of a city or province, or of a metropolitical city.' And they called that place Rome, Babylon." And the gloss adds, "This is the place where Rome, that afflicteth Israel, was built." Cartwright, in his Mellificium Hebraicum, lib. i. cap. ix., reporting this story out of Buxtorf, adds, "Haud dubitandum videtur, eos sub isto verborum involucro Romam tanquam alteram Babylonem perstringere voluisse, quod nimirum quae prius a Babyloniis, eadem atque etiam graviora postea a Romanis passi fuerint. Quin et Romanam idololatriam in eo perstringi arbitror, quod eodem die quo Jeroboamus filius Nebat vitulos aureos constituit, Romae (i.e., in loco ubi postea condita est Roma) duo tuguria aedificata esse dicunt." So he, who alone hath conjectured at the intendment of this enigmatical story, and that to good purpose; I shall therefore make it more fully to appear. Rome they have learned to call Babylon out of the Revelation, as was declared; and thence conclude that upon the destruction of Rome they shall be delivered. Two things were eminent in Babylon;—first, that it was itself the beginning of all false worship and idolatry in the world, and therein the "mother of harlots;" the other, that God made use of it to punish the idolatries of the Jews. Hence they say that Rome, this new Babylon, had its foundation when Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter, and that it began to be built when Jeroboam set up his calves; which they look upon as the first two fatal instances of the declension of Israel into false worship and idolatry. And hereby they intimate, partly that Rome should set up idolatry, as Solomon and Jeroboam did; and partly, that God had then provided a new Babylon to punish and destroy them. The Abba Kolon is a monster whom no man hath as yet set [eyes] upon; but it is no other but Capitolium, as they will easily grant who know how usual it is with them strangely to metamorphose things and words; instances whereof I shall elsewhere give. Thence is the proverb they speak of, "No Abba Kolon (no Capitol, or temple of idolatry), no city;" the Capitol answering the tower of Babel, which was a temple of Belus. Neither is that proverb any thing but an allusion to that in the Roman history, "Capitolium est ubi quondam capite humano invento, responsum est eo loco caput rerum, summamque imperii fore," Tit. Liv. lib. v. And the tempering of the clay of Rome with the water of Euphrates, by the help of Abba Kolon, is nothing but an expression of the succession of Rome into the stead of Babylon, which was built on that river, by the means of the Capitol, that great seat of idolatry. Nor do they at all distinguish between the present idolatry of Rome and that of old. So that, although all things are confounded by them with monstrous fictions and expressions, which it may be they invented on purpose to obscure their intention, yet their aim in the whole is manifest.
But to return: for the remaining part of the story concerning this Armillus, I know not whether they have borrowed it from those of the Roman church, or these from them, but evident it is that they strive to impose the odium of Antichrist upon one another. The Papists say that Antichrist shall be a Jew of the tribe of Dan, and that he shall persuade the Jews that he is their Messiah; that by their help, and others joining with them, he shall conquer many nations, destroy Rome, slay Enoch and Elias, and afterwards be destroyed himself by fire from heaven, by the power of Christ. The Jews, that their Armillus shall be a Roman, born of idolatrous fornication; that he shall persuade the Roman Christians that he is the head of their religion and author of their prayer-books; that he shall conquer many nations, fight against Jerusalem, slay Messiah Ben Joseph, and afterwards be consumed with fire from heaven, through the power of Ben David. To whether party the glory of this invention is to be assigned I am uncertain; the story, for the substance of it, is the same on both sides, only variously fitted unto their several interests.
15. And this shall be the end of Messiah Ben Joseph or Ephraim: Armillus having received a defeat by Nehemiah Ben Husiel, אומות חילי כל יקבוץ חחרוץ לעמק חעולם, "He shall gather the forces of all the nations of the world into the valley of decision," ישראל עם וילחם, "and they shall fight with Israel;" די משיח ויהרג מעט מישראל וינגפו חילים חילי ממנו ויהרגו; "and they shall slay of them" (of Armillus his army) "heaps" (or "multitudes") "on heaps; and they shall smite a few of Israel, and they shall slay the Messiah of the Lord;" העולם אבות עם אתו ומטמינים אתו ונוטלין השרת מלאכים ובאין, "and the ministering angels shall come, and, perfuming his body, shall lay it up with the ancient fathers;" where it is to be kept many days without putrefaction, as Hector's body was (in Homer) after he was slain by Achilles. And it is not unlikely but that they may allude somewhat to the prophecy of the two witnesses, Rev. 11, who were to be slain, and afterwards called up to heaven. Thus do they at their pleasure dispose of this creature of their own; for having framed him themselves, he is their own, to do with him what they will, alive and dead. But that which is the poison and sting of this fable is, that the death of this fictitious Messiah must amongst them bear all that is spoken in the Scripture or continued by tradition concerning the humiliation, suffering, and death of the true Messiah of the Lord.
16. We need not stay long in the removal of this mormo out of our way. Should they invent twenty other Messiahs, as they have done this,—and on the same grounds and with as good authority they may,—the case would still be the same. Who gave them power to substitute themselves in the place of God,—to give new promises, to appoint new Saviours, and to invent new ways of deliverance? The Scripture is utterly silent of any such person, nor have they any ante-Talmudical tradition concerning him; and what their masters have invented in the Talmuds is of no more authority than what they coin every day themselves. The truth is, this whole story of Armillus and Ben Joseph is a Talmudical romance, the one the giant, the other the knight. But these fictions "seria ducunt." Poor creatures are hardened by them unto their eternal destruction. But is the world bound to believe what every one whom they are pleased to call Rabbi can imagine, though never so contrary to the principles of that religion which themselves pretend to own and profess? So indeed some of them say, that if their masters teach the right hand to be the left, yea, heaven to be hell, yet their authority is not to be questioned; and, as I remember, others say some such things of the pope. But God, I hope, of his goodness, will not suffer poor mankind to be always so deluded. All the promises of God, all the prophecies from the foundation of the world, concern only one Messiah, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, and of the family of David; all the faith of the church of old, as we have proved, respected that one only: and who will lay any weight upon what is spoken, foretold, or promised concerning him, if the Jews have power to invent another at their pleasure?
17. Again; their masters have not only dealt dishonestly and blasphemously, but foolishly also, in this matter, in that they have not suited their own creature unto the end for which they have made him. The end, as was showed before, why they advanced this imagination, was to give countenance unto what is spoken in the Scriptures, or retained by themselves in tradition, concerning the sufferings of the Messiah; and it is somewhat strange to me, that having raised up this Ben Joseph, they did not use him worse than they have done, but by a little foolish pity have spoiled their own whole design. They have a tradition among themselves, that the Messiah must bear a third part of all the afflictions or persecutions that ever were or shall be in the world; and what proportion doth a man's being slain in battle, where his army is victorious (which is all the hardship this Ben Joseph is to meet withal), bear unto the afflictions which befall the church in every age? And for the Scripture, it is mere lost labour to compare the death of this warrior with what is delivered therein concerning the sufferings of the Messiah. Every one not judicially blinded must needs see that there is no affinity between them. The 53d chapter of Isaiah is acknowledged by their Targum, and sundry of the principal masters of their faith, to be a prophecy concerning him; and we shall afterwards undeniably prove it so to be. Now, the person there spoken of is one whom the Jews are to reject and despise, whom God is to afflict and bruise, by causing the sins of the whole church to meet upon him,—one who by his sufferings is to fulfil the pleasure of the Lord, making his soul an offering for sin, justifying the elect, and conquering Satan by his death. This fictitious Messiah is to be honoured of all the Jews, to raise armies, to fight a battle, and therein, after the manner of other men, to be slain; so that a story was never worse told, nor to less purpose. No other use can be made of it, that I know of, but only to consider in it the blindness of poor obstinate sinners, given up unto hardness of heart and a spirit of folly, for the rejection of him whom God sealed, anointed, and sent to be the Saviour of the world. Leaving them, therefore, in the embraces of this cloud, we may consider the other expected Messiah, whom they call Ben David, in whom principally they place their confidence.
18. The endless fables of the Jews about their Messiah, as they have been in part discovered by others, so I design not here at large to recount them. The chief masters of them in the Talmud are full of disputes and contradictions about him, and those of after ages succeed them in their uncertainties. Such will the conceptions of all men be, when they take up fancies and opinions of their own in matters of divine revelation. But some things there are wherein they all generally agree, and those relating unto his person, work, and office, which it shall suffice to give an account of, as answering our present design:—First, Therefore, they contend that he shall be a mere man; and there is nothing that they strive to avoid more than the testimonies of Scripture which show that the promised Messiah was to be God and man in one person, as hath been already evidenced. They contend also that he shall be born after the manner of all men,—not of a virgin, but of a married woman, begotten by her husband. About the place of his birth they are not fully agreed; for although they all acknowledge the prophecy of Micah about Bethlehem to relate unto him, chap. 5:2, yet knowing that town now to have been desolate for many generations, and waste without inhabitant (which would seem to prove that he is come already), they contend that it is said he shall be born at Bethlehem because he is to spring of David, who was born there, for of the tribe of Judah and family of David he must proceed; although they have neither distinction of tribes nor succession of families left in the world amongst them. To relieve themselves from that difficulty, they feign that he shall restore unto them all their genealogies. About the time of his coming they are wofully perplexed, as we shall see afterwards. But many tokens they have of it when it doth come; for they heap up, out of some allegorical passages in the Scripture, such stupendous prodigies as never were nor shall be in the world. One of the principal of them is the sounding of the great trumpet, which all Israel shall hear, and the world tremble at, from Isa. 27:13. The finding of the ark and sacred fire (which things were talked of in the late rumours about them) are indeed a part of their creed in this matter. His office, when he comes, is to be a king; which he shall be anointed unto by them when they are gathered together. And the work he is to do, is in war to fight with Armillus, Gog and Magog, to conquer the Edomites and Ishmaelites,—that is, the Romish Christians and Turks or Saracens,—and in so doing, to erect a glorious kingdom at Jerusalem. In peace, he is to rule righteously, not only over Israel, but also all the nations of the world, if they have any difference amongst them, shall refer all unto his determination and umpirage. In religion, he shall build the third temple, mentioned by Ezekiel, restore the sacrifices, and cause the law of Moses to be most strictly observed. But, that which is the head of all, he shall free the Jews from their captivity; restore them to their own land; make princes and lords of them all; giving them the wealth of all nations, either conquered by him or brought voluntarily unto him; feast them on Behemoth, Zis, and the wine of paradise: so that they shall see want and poverty no more!
This is the substance of their persuasion concerning his coming, person, office, and work. When he shall come; whether he shall live always, or die at a hundred years old; whether he shall have children, and if he have, whether they shall succeed him in his throne; whether all the Jews that are dead shall rise at his coming, and their Galgal, or rolling in the earth from all parts of the world into the land of Canaan, shall then happen or no; whether the general resurrection shall not succeed immediately upon his reign, or at least within forty years after, or how long it will be to the end of the world,—they are not at all agreed. But this, as hath been declared, is the substance of their persuasion and expectation:—That he shall be a mere man, and that the deliverance which he shall effect shall be by mighty wars, wherein the Jews shall be always victorious; and that in the dominion and rule which they shall have over all nations, the third temple shall be built, the law of Moses be observed by him and them, and the Noachical precepts be imposed on all others. As for any spiritual salvation from sin and the curse of the law, of justification and righteousness by him, or the procurement of grace and glory, they utterly reject all thoughts about them.
19. With these opinions many of them have mixed prodigious fancies, rendering their estate under their Messiah in this world not much inferior unto that which Mohammed hath promised unto his followers in another; and some of them, on the other hand, endeavour to pare off what superfluities they can spare, and to render their folly as plausible as they are able. Wherefore, that it may appear what is the utmost height of their conceptions in this matter, and that which the most contemplative persons amongst them fix upon, I shall subjoin a description of him and his kingdom in the words of Maimonides, one of the wisest and soberest persons that hath been amongst them since their last fatal dispersion. This man, therefore, in his exposition of the 10th chapter of Tractat. Sanhed., observing the fond and frivolous imaginations of their Talmudical masters about the Messiah, gives many rules and instructions about the right understanding of their sayings, to free them from open impieties and contradictions; and hereunto he subjoins, as he supposeth, the true notion of the Messiah and his kingdom, in the ensuing words: "As to the days of the Messiah, they are the time when the kingdom shall be restored unto Israel, and they shall return unto Palestine. And this king shall be potent, the metropolis of whose kingdom shall be Zion; and his name shall be famous unto the uttermost parts of the earth. He shall be greater and richer than Solomon; and with him the nations shall make peace, and yield him obedience, because of his justice and the miracles that he shall perform. If any one shall rise against him, God shall give him up into his hand to be destroyed. All the Scripture declares his happiness, and the happiness we shall have by him. Howbeit, nothing in the nature of things shall be changed, only Israel shall have the kingdom; for so our wise men say expressly, there is no difference between these days and the days of the Messiah, but only the subduing of the nations under us." So, indeed, says Rab. Samuel, and others of them: לימות הזה העולם בין אין מלכיות שיעבוד אלא המשיח. He goes on, "In those days victuals shall be had at an easy rate, as if the earth brought forth cates and clothes." And afterwards, "The Messiah shall die, and his son, and his son's son, shall reign after him; but his kingdom shall endure long, and men shall live long in those days, so that some think his kingdom shall continue a thousand years. But the days of the Messiah are not so much to be desired that we may have store of corn and wealth, ride on horses, and drink wine with music, but for the society and conversation of good men, the knowledge and righteousness of the king, and that then, without wearisomeness, trouble, or constraint, the whole law of Moses shall be observed."
20. This is the sum of the creed of the most sober part of the Jews concerning the Messiah, whom they look and long for;—if any are so sober as to embrace it; for the same author tells us that there were very few so minded, it may be scarce another in an age besides himself: generally, they look after nothing but rule, dominion, wealth, and pleasure. But he and they all own him as a temporal king, a mighty warrior, subduing the nations unto the Jews,—a Furius Camillus, or an Alexander, or a Caesar. Of redemption from sin, death, and hell, of pardon of sin, justification, and righteousness, of eternal salvation by him, they know, they believe nothing. Maimonides thinks, indeed, that his kingdom shall long continue; not like Manasseh of late, who supposeth that it might not abide above forty years, and those immediately preceding the day of judgment.
21. It is sufficiently evident that this opinion and persuasion of the Jews, which is catholic unto them, and hath been so ever since they rejected the true Messiah, contains an absolute renunciation of the faith of the church of old, and an utter rejection of all the ends for which the Messiah was promised. I shall not, therefore, enter here upon a particular refutation of it; for it will occur in our ensuing discourses. Neither is this the person about whom we contend with them, nor have we any concernment in him. When he comes, let them make their best of him; we have already received the Captain of our salvation. What also they plead for themselves, as the ground of their obstinacy in refusing the true Messiah, must afterwards be particularly discussed. At present, therefore, I shall only reflect on those depraved habits of their minds, which, in concurrence with occasions and temptations suited unto them, have seduced them into these low, carnal, and earthly imaginations about the promised Seed, his person, office, and work that he was to perform.
22. In things, therefore, of this kind, ignorance of their miserable condition by nature, both as to sin and wrath, justly claims the first place; for although, as was by instances before manifested, the evidence of truth and power of traditions amongst them have prevailed with some to avow the notion of the sin of Adam, and the corruption of our nature thereby, yet indeed there is not any of them that have a true sense and conviction of their natural condition, and the misery that doth attend it. The Messiah, as we have proved at large, was first promised to relieve mankind from that state whereinto they were cast by the apostasy of Adam, the common root and parent of them all. Such as are men's apprehensions of that condition, such also will be their thoughts concerning the Messiah who was promised to be a deliverer from it. They who know themselves cast out of the favour of God thereby, made obnoxious unto his eternal displeasure, and disenabled to do any thing that shall please him, as being cast into a state of universal enmity against him, must needs look on the Messiah promised, in the grace, goodness, and wisdom of God, for a Saviour and Deliverer, to be one that must, by suitable ways and means, free them from sin and wrath, procure for them the favour of God, enable them to serve him again unto acceptation, and so bring them at length unto their chief end,—the everlasting enjoyment of him. As these things answer one another, and are on both sides fully revealed in the Scripture, so the church of old, who had a due apprehension of their own condition, looked for such a Messiah as God had promised. Ignorance, therefore, of this condition is no small cause of the present Judaical misbelief. Whatever may be the estate of other men, about which they do not much trouble themselves, for their part they are children of Abraham, exempted from the common condition of mankind by the privilege of their nativity; or, at least, they are relieved by their circumcision, by the pain whereof they make sufficient satisfaction for any ill they bring with them into this world! That they are "dead in trespasses and sins," standing in need to be "born again;" that they are "by nature children of wrath," obnoxious unto the curse of God; that the sin of our first parents is imputed unto them, or if it be, that it was of any such demerit as Christians teach,—they believe not. Upon the matter, they know no misery but what consists in poverty, captivity, and want of rule and dominion. And what should a spiritual Redeemer do unto these men? What beauty or comeliness can he have in him, for which, of them, he should be desired? What reason can they see why they should understand the promises concerning him in such a way and sense as that they should not be concerned in them? And this blindness had in a great measure possessed their minds at the first promulgation of the gospel. See John 8:33, 34, 9:40, 41. And therefore our apostle, in his Epistle unto the Romans, wherein he deals both with Jews and Gentiles, before he declares the propitiation that was made, with the justification that was to be obtained by the blood of Christ, convinceth them all of their miserable, lost condition on the account of sin, original and actual, chap. 1–3. Until, therefore, this pride, self-fulness, and ignorance of themselves, be taken from them and rooted out of their hearts, all promises of a spiritual Redeemer must needs be unsavoury unto them. They stand in no need of him, and why should they desire him? An earthly king that would give them liberty, wealth, ease, and dominion, they would gladly embrace, and have long in vain looked for.
23. Secondly, Ignorance of the righteousness of God, both as to what he requireth, that a man may be justified before him, and of his judgment concerning the desert of sin, hath the same effect upon them, Rom. 10:3, 4. The great end for which the Messiah was promised, as we have in part declared, and shall afterwards further evince, was to make atonement for sin, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, Dan. 9:24. A righteousness was to be brought in that might answer the justice of God and abide its trial. Of what nature this righteousness must be the Scripture declares, and that as well in the revelation it makes of the holiness of God, Ps. 5:4, 5, Josh. 24:19, Hab. 1:13, as of the purity and severity of his law, Deut. 33:2, 27:26, and the absolute perfection of his justice in the execution of it, Ps. 50:21. A universal, spotless innocency, and a constant, unerring obedience in all things, and that in the highest degree of perfection, are required, to find acceptation with this holy and righteous God. Of the nature and necessity of this righteousness the Jews are ignorant and regardless. They and their masters were so of old, Matt. 5:20. An outside, partial, hypocritical observance of the law of Moses they suppose will serve their turns. See Rom. 9:31. And, indeed, there is not any thing that more openly discovers the miserable blindness of the present Jews, than the consideration of what they insist upon as their righteousness before God. The faith and obedience of their forefathers, the privilege of circumcision, some outward observances of Mosaical precepts, with anxious, scrupulous abstinences, self-macerations in fasts, with prayers by tale and number, Sabbath rests from outward labour, with the like bodily exercises, are the sum of what they plead for themselves. Now, if these things, which are absolutely in their own power, will compose and make up a righteousness acceptable unto God, cover all the sins whereof they know themselves to be guilty, to what end should they look for a Redeemer to bring in everlasting righteousness, or to make atonement for sin? Why should they look out in this case for relief, seeing they have enough at home to serve their turns? Let them that are "weary and heavy laden" seek after such a Deliverer; they have no need of him or his salvation. According, therefore, as this building of self-righteousness went on and prospered amongst them, faith in the Messiah, as to the true ends for which he was promised, decayed every day more and more, until at length it was utterly lost: for, as our apostle tells them, if righteousness were by the law, the promise of the Messiah was to no purpose; and if the law made things perfect, the bringing in of another priesthood and sacrifice was altogether needless.
24. So is it also with them as to their apprehension of the judgment of God concerning the desert of sin. The natural notion hereof the vilest hypocrites amongst them were sometimes perplexed withal. See Isa. 33:14; Mic. 6:6, 7. But the generality of them have long endeavoured, by prejudicate imaginations, to cast out the true and real sense of it. That God is angry at sin, that in some cases an atonement is needful, they will not deny; but so low and carnal are their thoughts of his severity, that they think any thing may serve the turn to appease his wrath or to satisfy his justice, especially towards them whom alone he loves. Their afflictions and persecutions, the death of their children, and their own death, especially if it be by a painful distemper, they suppose to make a sufficient propitiation for all their sins; such mean and unworthy thoughts have they of the majesty, holiness, and terror of the Lord. Of late, also, lest there should be a failure on any account, they have found out an invention to give their sins unto the devil, by the sacrifice of a cock; the manner whereof is at large described by Buxtorf, in his Synagoga Judaica. And this also hath no small influence on their minds to pervert them from the faith of their forefathers. Let the Messiah provide well for them in this world, and they will look well enough unto themselves as to that which is to come.
25. And hence ariseth also their ignorance of the whole nature, use, and end of the Mosaical law, which also contributes much to the producing of the same effect upon them. To what end the law was given, whereunto it served, what was the nature and proper use of its institutions, shall be declared as occasion is offered in the exposition of the Epistle itself. For the present, it may suffice unto our purpose to consider their apprehensions of it, and what influence they have into their misbelief. In general, they look on the law and their observance of it as the only means of obtaining righteousness and making an atonement with God. So they did of old, Rom. 9:32. In the observation of its precepts they place all their righteousness before God; and by its sacrifices they look for atonement of all their sins. That the law was not given, that the sacrifices were not appointed, for these ends, that the fathers of old never attended unto them absolutely with any such intention, shall be afterwards declared. In the meantime, it is evident that this persuasion corrupts their minds as to their thoughts about the Messiah; for if righteousness may be obtained and atonement made without him, to what end serves the promise concerning him? But having thus taken from him the whole office and work whereunto of God he was designed, that he might not be thought altogether useless, they have cut out for him the work and employment before mentioned; for looking on righteousness and atonement, with the consequent of them, eternal salvation, as the proper effects of the law, they thought meet to leave unto their Messiah the work of procuring unto them liberty, wealth, and dominion, which they found by experience that the law was not able to do. But had their eyes indeed been opened in the knowledge of God and themselves, they would have found the law no less insufficient to procure by itself a heavenly than an earthly kingdom for them; and against their prejudicate obstinacy in this matter doth the apostle principally oppose himself in his Epistle unto them.
26. But here, by the way, some may possibly inquire how the Jews, if they look for atonement and the remission of sins by the sacrifices of the law, can now expect to have their sins pardoned, without which they cannot be eternally saved, seeing they are confessedly destitute of all legal sacrifices whatever? Have they found out some other way, or do they utterly give over seeking after salvation? This very question being put unto one of them, he answers that they now obtain the pardon of their sins by repentance and amendment of life, according to the promises made in the prophets unto that purpose, as Ezek. 18:21; and concludes, "Quamvis jam nulla sint sacrificia, quae media erant ad tanto facilius impetrandam remissionem peccatorum, eadem tamen per poenitentiam ac resipiscentiam declinando a viis malis impetratur;"—"Although there are now no sacrifices, which were a means the more easily to obtain the forgiveness of sins, yet it may be obtained by repentance and a departure from ways of evil." This is their hope, which, like that of the hypocrite, "is as the giving up of the ghost;" for,—(1.) It is true, repentance and amendment of life are required in them who seek after the forgiveness of their sins, and many promises are made unto them; but is this all that God required that sin might be forgiven? They are sufficient, indeed, in their own way and place, but are they so absolutely also? Did not God moreover appoint and require that they should make use of sacrifices to make atonement for sins, without which they should not be done away? See Lev. 16. And, (2.) What is the meaning of that plea, "That by sacrifices, indeed, remission of sins might more easily be obtained, but obtained it may be without them"? Doth this "more easily" respect God, or man? If they say it respects God, I desire to know, if he can pardon sin without sacrifices, why he cannot do it as easily as with them? or what is he eased of by sacrifices? If it respect themselves, as indeed it doth, then it may be inquired what it is that they shall be eased of in the obtaining of the pardon of sins by the use of sacrifices, when that is again restored unto them? This can be of nothing but of that which they are now forced to make use of for that end and purpose. And what is that? Why, repentance and amendment of life! If, then, they had their sacrifices, these might be spared, or at least much in them abated which at present is necessary. This, then, it seems, was the end why God instituted sacrifices, namely, that these Jews might obtain pardon of sin without either repentance or amendment! and this is that which they love as their souls, namely, that they may live in their sins, and be acquitted of all danger by sacrifices and outward services. (3.) Atonement for sin is expressly necessary, or all the institutions of sacrifices for that end, of old, were vain and ludicrous. At the same time, when sacrifices were in use, repentance was also required, and therefore not a cause or means for the same end in the same kind with them. And therefore, notwithstanding their pretence of repentance, no Jew, upon his own principles, can now, in the total cessation of all sacrifices, obtain either pardon of sin here or salvation hereafter. But to proceed.
27. Their corrupt, carnal affections have, moreover, greatly contributed, and yet do so, unto their obstinacy in their unbelief. Hence have they coined their self-pleasing imaginations about the Messiah, and the work that he hath to do. That he should be a king and reign gloriously, that his dominion should be over all the world and endure throughout all generations, was promised concerning him from the beginning. They think much, therefore, what advantage this kingdom may afford unto them, comparing it in their minds with those other empires which they see in the world. Wealth, ease, liberty, dominion, or a share in power and rule, are the things that please their carnal minds, and evidently fill them with envy and wrath against them by whom they are possessed. These things they look after and hope for, as the only things that are desirable,— the only pledges, indeed, of the favour of God. No persons on the earth have their thoughts more fixed on them than they. As their oppressions increase, so do their desires after liberty and rule; and they have learned nothing by their poverty but to grow in a greedy fierceness after riches. And when they would at any time set out the care of God towards their nation, they declare that "such a one in such a place was worth so many thousand crowns, or drove such a trade, or was in such favour as that he rode in a coach or chariot;" as may be seen in the address of Manasseh unto the English. This covetousness and ambition, with revengeful thoughts against their oppressors, possessing their minds, makes them desire, hope, and believe, that the kingdom of their Messiah shall be of this world, and that therein their enjoyments shall be as large as whatever now their fancy can reach unto. And so perfectly are they under the power of these lusts and earthly desires in this matter, that, take away their hopes of satisfying of them in the good things of this world, they will on very easy terms bid adieu unto their Messiah, or grant that he is already come. But whilst they are obstinately fixed in the expectation of them, to tell them of a spiritual and heavenly kingdom, wherein the poorest and most persecuted person on the earth may have as good an interest and enjoy as much benefit by it as the greatest monarch in the world, and you do but cast away your words unto the wind.
28. Secondly, Since the propagation of the gospel, and its success in the world, envy against the Gentile believers, another corrupt lust, hath exceedingly perverted their minds in their notions about the Messiah. And this they are filled withal upon a twofold account:—
First, upon that of the spiritual privileges which they saw claimed by them. That the Gentiles, or nations of the earth distinct from Israel, should be fellow-heirs in the promise with the posterity of Abraham according unto the flesh, was declared by all the prophets of old. But yet, as we have showed, this was done by them in that obscure manner, in comparison of the revelation made of it in the gospel, that the grace and counsel of God therein is called a "mystery" hid from the ages that went before. Wherefore, when this design of the love and wisdom of God was brought to light, it filled the Jews, who had lost the faith of it, with envy and wrath. See Acts 13:45–47, 50, 22:21–23; 1 Thess. 2:15, 16. The stories of all ages from thence unto this day testify the same; nor do they yet stick to express these corrupt affections as occasion is offered. And this envy, being greatly predominant in them, hardens them in their imagination of such a Messiah as by whom the Gentiles may receive no benefit but what may accrue unto them by becoming their servants. They cannot endure to hear unto this day that the Gentiles should be equal sharers with themselves in the promise of the Messiah. They would have him unto themselves alone, or not at all. And this keeps up their desires and expectations of such a one as they have fancied for their own ends and purposes.
29. Again, their envy against the Gentiles is greatly increased and excited by the oppressions and sufferings from them which they undergo. This adds hatred and desire of revenge unto it; which render it impotent and unruly. I speak not now of their present and past sufferings from Christians, which in many places have been unrighteous and inhuman, and so undoubtedly a great occasion of hardening them in their obstinacy; but of their long-continued oppressions under the power of the Gentiles in general. Having been greatly harassed and wasted by them in most ages, and having a Deliverer promised unto them, they are strongly inclined to fancy such a deliverance as, being peculiarly theirs, should enable them to avenge themselves on their old enemies and oppressors. And this they think must be done, not by a heavenly, spiritual king, ruling in the things concerning religion and the worship of God, but by one that, having a mighty kingdom in this world, shall by force and power subdue their enemies under them. Such a one, therefore, they desire and look for. And how hard it is for them to depose these thoughts, unless they are freed by the grace of God from the carnal affections mentioned, is not hard to guess. And these are some of those especial occasions whereby the Jews, through their own blindness, are hardened in their unbelief and disobedience unto the gospel, whereunto others of the like kind may be added.
30. This is the faith and expectation of the present Jews all the world over concerning the Messiah in whom they place their confidence: A mere man he is to be, a king over the Jews at Jerusalem, who shall conquer many nations; and so give peace, prosperity, and plenty, unto all the Israelites in their own land. But what great matter is in all this? Have not other men done as much and more for their citizens and people? Can they fancy that their Messiah should be more victorious or successful than Alexander? They dare not hope it. At a disputation before the pope and cardinals at Rome, which they have recorded in Shebet Jehudah, they openly professed that they never expected so great glory by their Messiah as that which they saw them attended withal; and Manasseh confesseth that it is no great or extraordinary matter which they looked for by him, De Resur., lib. ii. cap. xxi. "Non est," saith he, "tantum miraculum si Messias veniat subjugatum regna sibi et imperia multa, cum non raro accidisse videamus ut humiles aliqui abjectique ad regna et imperia pervenerint, terrarumque multarum domini fierent;"—"It is no such miracle that the Messiah should come and subdue many kingdoms and empires unto himself, seeing it often falls out that men of mean and abject condition do come unto kingdoms and empires, and are made lords of many countries." It is so indeed. They say nothing of him but what may be paralleled in the stories of the nations of the world, especially considering the shortness of his reign, which they begin to think shall not be above forty years.
31. But do these things answer the promise made concerning him from the foundation of the world? Is this the meaning of the promise given unto Adam? Was this the end of the call and separation of Abraham? this the intendment of the promise made unto him, that "in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed?" Is this only the importance of it, that towards the end of the world many of them shall be conquered? Was this the intent of the oath made unto David, and of the "sure mercies" confirmed unto him and his thereby? Do all the promises in the Prophets, set out in words glorious and magnificent, end in a warrior inferior it may be unto many of those whose destruction they prophesied of? Or is not this rather a way to expose the whole Old Testament unto scorn and reproach, as making the promises thereof not to extend unto that glory which in others the penmen of it despised, or at least to regard only things of the same nature with them? Was this the expectation of the fathers of old? Is this that which they desired, prayed for, longed for, esteeming all the glory of their present enjoyments as nothing in comparison of it? What is in this Messiah, that he should be the hope and "desire of all nations?" Did God set him forth as the great effect of his love, grace, goodness, and faithfulness towards them, and then bring forth a military king, in whose exploits they were not all to be concerned? Was the church in travail for so many generations to bring forth this fighter? Had they no eye of old unto spiritual and eternal things in the promise of the Messiah? Of late, indeed, Josephus Albo tells us that the doctrine of the coming of the Messiah is not fundamental; and Hillel of old maintained that Hezekiah was the Messiah. "He should have been so," saith another, "had he composed a song unto God." "Bar-Cosba," a seditious necromancer, "is the Messiah," says R. Akiba. "He shall come, it may be, immediately before the resurrection," saith Manasseh. But do these thoughts suit the faith, hope, prayers, and expectations of the church of old? do they answer any one promise of God concerning him? No man, not utterly unacquainted with the Scripture, can give the least countenance unto such imaginations.
32. What, all this while, is become of the work everywhere in the Scripture assigned unto the Messiah? Whom is that cast off unto? Who shall break the serpent's head? Who shall take away the curse that entered on sin? Who shall be a blessing unto all nations? To whom shall the Gentiles be gathered, to be saved by him? Who shall be a priest after the order of Melchizedek? Who shall have a body prepared him, to offer instead of the sacrifices of the law? Who shall have his hands and feet pierced in his suffering, and his vesture parted by lot? Who shall make his soul an offering for sin? Who shall be bruised, grieved, and afflicted by God himself, because he shall bear the iniquities of his people? Who shall make atonement for transgressors, and bring in everlasting righteousness? Who shall for ever make intercession for transgressors? And who shall sit at the right hand of God in his rule over the whole world? All these things, and sundry others of the like kind, are openly and frequently promised concerning the true Messiah, whereof not any of them is to be accomplished in or by him whom they look for. But these men indeed take a way to destroy all religion, and to turn the whole Bible into a story of earthly things, without either life, spirit, or heavenly mystery in it.
33. It is acknowledged that there are many promises of mercy and glory unto the church in the days of the Messiah, expressed in words whose first, literal sense represents things outward and temporal. And there is a threefold interpretation of them contended for:—The first is that of the Jews, who would have them all understood according unto their literal importance, without the allowance of any figure or allegory in them. But nothing can be more vain than this imagination, nor do they make use of it but where they suppose that it will serve their present design; for whereas the wisest of them do grant, that in the days of the Messiah the nature of things shall not be changed, but only their use, many of these promises, in their first, literal sense, import a full and direct alteration in the heavens and earth, and all things contained in them. So Isa. 11:6–8, lions, bears, leopards, cockatrices, asps, calves, and young children, are said all to live, feed, and play together: and chap. 60:7, it is said that the flocks of Kedar and the rams of Nebaioth should minister unto the church; verse 16, that she should suck the breast of kings: and verse 19, that the sun should no more give light by day; and yet, verse 20, that it should no more go down: chap. 65:17, that new heavens and a new earth shall be created, and that the old shall be remembered no more: that trees and fields shall rejoice and clap their hands for gladness: with other things innumerable in the same kind. Now, if they grant, as they must, unless they intend to expose all sacred truth to the scorn and contempt of atheists, that these expressions are figurative and allegorical, they must do the same in all other promises of earthly things, as of peace, plenty, victory, long life, dominion, wealth, and the like, being set out in the same kind of allegorical expressions. At least, they cannot make them, in the strict literal sense of the words, the object of their faith and expectation, unless they can by some infallible rule declare what is figuratively to be understood in them, what properly, or which promises are expressed allegorically, which not; and this they can never do. The event, therefore, is the only infallible interpreter of the meaning of such prophetical predictions; whatever precedes that is but conjecture. Wherefore,—
34. Secondly, Some interpret all these promises and prophecies spiritually, without the least respect unto those outward, terrene things, which are made use of in figurative expressions only to shadow out those spiritual, heavenly, and eternal things which are intended in them. And indeed this way of interpretation, which Calvin follows in all his commentaries, is attended with great probability of truth; for the main end and work for which the Messiah was promised being, as we have proved, spiritual and eternal, and whereas it is evident that many promises of things relating unto him and the condition of them that believe in him are allegorically expressed (it being the constant way of the Old Testament to shadow out spiritual and heavenly things by things earthly and carnal), this way of interpreting the promises seems to have great countenance given unto it, both from the nature of the things themselves, and the constant tenor of the prophetical style. According unto this rule of interpretation, all that is foretold in the Psalms and Prophets of the deliverance, rest, peace, glory, rule and dominion of the church; of the subjection and subserviency of nations, kingdoms, rulers, kings and queens, thereunto; intends only either the kingdom of grace, consisting in faith, love, holiness, righteousness, and peace in the Holy Ghost, with that spiritual beauty and glory which are in the worship of the gospel, or the kingdom of heaven itself, where lies our happiness and reward. And indeed this interpretation of the promises, as in respect of many of them it is evidently certain, true, and proper, they being so expounded in the gospel itself, so in respect of them all it is safe and satisfactory to the souls of believers; for they who are really made partakers of the spiritual good things of the Messiah, and are subjects of his spiritual kingdom, do find and acknowledge such liberty, rest, peace, and glory, those durable riches therein, as they are abundantly content withal, whatever their outward condition in this world may be. And unto this exposition, as to the main and prime intendment of the promises, the whole doctrine of the gospel gives countenance.
35. Thirdly, Some, acknowledging the kingdom of the Messiah to be heavenly and spiritual, and the promises generally to intend spiritual and heavenly glory and riches,—that is, grace and peace in Christ Jesus,—do yet suppose, moreover, that there is in many of them an intimation given of a blessed, quiet, peaceable, flourishing estate of the church, through the power of the Messiah, to be in this world. But this they do with these limitations:—(1.) That these promises were not made unto the Jews as they were the seed of Abraham according unto the flesh primarily and absolutely, but unto the church,—that is, the children of Abraham according unto the promise, heirs of his faith and blessing; that is, they are made unto all them who receive and believe in the promised Messiah, Jews and Gentiles, with whom, as we have proved, the privilege of the church and interest in the promises was to remain. (2.) That the accomplishment of these promises is reserved unto an appointed time,— when God shall have accomplished his work of severity on the apostate Jews, and of trial and patience towards the called Gentiles. (3.) That upon the coming of that season, the Lord will, by one means or other, take off the veil from the eyes of the remnant of the Jews, and turn them from ungodliness unto the grace of the Messiah; after which, the Jews and Gentiles, being made one fold under the great Shepherd of our souls, shall enjoy rest and peace in this world. This they think to be intimated in many of the promises of the Old Testament which are brought over unto the use of the church, as yet unaccomplished, in the Book of the Revelation. And herein lies all the glory which the Jews can or may expect, and that only on such terms as yet they will not admit of. But these things must all of them be spoken unto at large, when we come to answer the objections which they take from them unto our faith in Jesus Christ.
36. That which, above all things, manifests the folly and irreligion of the imagination of the Jews about the person and work of the Messiah is the event. The true Messiah is long since come, hath accomplished the work assigned unto him, and made known the nature of the first and consequent promises, with the salvation that he was to effect;—no way answering the expectation of the Jews, but only in his genealogy according unto the flesh. And this is that which is the second supposition on which all the discourses and reasonings of the apostle in his Epistle to the Hebrews are founded, and which, being absolutely destructive of Judaical infidelity, shall be fully confirmed in our ensuing dissertation.
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